Charlotte Mason wanted children to set good intellectual habits, and these begin in the first year of formal lessons. A. A. Milne said, “Now we are Six,” Mason said, “Now it’s time to read,” and this episode will describe the scope of the first year of school and its lessons.
Listen Now:
“We (of the PNEU) begin the definite ‘school’ education of children when they are six; they are no doubt capable of beginning a year or two earlier but the fact is that nature and circumstances have provided such a wide field of education for young children that it seems better to abstain from requiring direct intellectual efforts until they have arrived at that age.” (Vol. 6, p. 159)
“But we are considering, not the religious life of children, but their education by lessons; and their Bible lessons should help them to realise in early days that the knowledge of God is the principal knowledge, and, therefore, that their Bible lessons are their chief lessons.” (Vol. 1, p. 251)
“Children between six and nine should get considerable knowledge of the Bible text. By nine they should have read the simple (and suitable) narrative portions of the Old Testament, and, say, two of the gospels.” (Vol. 1, p. 248)
“But let the imaginations of children be stored with the pictures, their minds nourished upon the words, of the gradually unfolding story of the Scriptures, and they will come to look out upon a wide horizon within which persons and events take shape in their due place and in due proportion.” (Vol. 1, p. 249)
“Next in order to religious knowledge, history is the pivot upon which our curriculum turns.” (Vol. 6, p. 273)
“Every day’s walk gives him something to enter…While he is quite young (five or six), he should begin to illustrate his notes freely with brush drawings.” (Vol 1, pp. 54-55)
“Children who are too small to write dictate their notes which are written down for them.” (“The Work and Aims of the P.U.S.” Parents’ Review)
“The first buttercup in a child’s nature note book is shockingly crude, the sort of thing to scandalise a teacher of brush-drawing, but by and by another buttercup will appear with the delicate poise, uplift and radiance of the growing flower.” (Vol. 6, p. 217)
J. Paterson Smyth Commentaries (or, in ebook format here)
Elementary Geography, Charlotte Mason
Eyes and No Eyes Series, Arabella Buckley
(Contains affiliate links)
Charlotte Mason’s Bible Rotation
Nicole’s Out-of-Door Geography post
Thanks for this episode! I was wondering what the drawing lesson would involve. Would it be actual instruction from the teacher about how to draw specific things or on specific techniques, or would it be more a matter of the child having the art supplies and the time available to continue practicing drawing without direct instruction & maybe improve just by practice?
Here’s a link to a programme for Form I, you can see what CM assigned for work in Drawing to get you started. We will be addressing this topic in depth in an upcoming episode airing this fall.
I love this! My little girl will begin year round with Form IB in January 2018 so this helps show me what a day will encompass all in one episode. Any suggestions with trying to keep Bible family oriented while having a year 9 and 11 in the mix? Would you suggest them be a part of the narrative readings and do their own Bible readings during individual time?
Sandy, I am not sure whether by year 9 and 11 you mean their ages, or how many years they’ve been in school. If you are meaning high schoolers, Mason had students reading Bible for school lessons independently and you can read more about that at http://www.charlottemasonpoetry.com; Bible lessons in elementary school were read aloud to the child by the teacher. The other thing to note is that Bible lessons for school are different from family devotional or study times, which were assumed to be taking place in a family. She had a definite purpose and plan for the chronological study of scripture.
-Liz
1B History Question when you talk about doing these “tales” in chronological order. If we had a spine (America Begins) going along with other books like Leif the Lucky -would the spine be stopped to read the more in depth book or would one keep going with the spine one day a week and read the other book another day?
This really depends, Em. In some cases, the spine is only a few chapters long. In that case, you might want to finish the spine and then begin your other books to complete the term. But when a person has to check them out from the library, you can just read them when you have them, spreading the spine over the whole term. The key is that you not read the two different books within the same lesson.
~Nicole
Thank you for this! I’m planning and preparing for form 1b right now. My son turns 6 the beginning of January. For scheduling purposes to have 3 terms, 12 weeks each, in a school year, do you think it would be okay to start this fall instead of waiting until the next fall? I feel waiting until he is almost 7 would then put him almost a year behind.
Jennifer, I would still wait till January and only plan two terms. You can decide what to study for a three-term year the following year. There is much you can do this first term of the year before he turns six. You might want to listen to the episode The Early Years for some ideas.
This was another great episode, thank you! I have found the Contemporary Guide to Elementary Geography to be really helpful. It is available from homeschoolingdownunder and may be of assistance to other listeners trying to use CM’s geography text in a modern context.
This episode is amazing!! I’m excited to hear the next one. One question I have is regarding Bible time. I have set my older, 3rd grade son, to be reading his Bible selections mostly alone aside from narration. This is the first thing he will do, and I have chosen to do the reading lesson with my 1st grader during that time each day. The reason I did this is because I have 2 in form 1, and they both need my full attention for a large portion of the school day. Is it okay for my youngest not to have Bible first? I want to be as purely CM as possible. So if I need to re-do the schedule, I will do that.
This is a good question. I understand the scheduling challenges with two beginning readers. You asked what Mason would suggest, I hope, and not what I would recommend personally, so I will tell you that she did not have young children read the Bible independently. All three children need the same Bible lesson. She required the teacher to read the Bible lesson aloud, and it was always the first lesson of the day to “impress upon the children that it is their principal lesson.”
She did make exceptions further up in elementary school if a child could read aloud beautifully, but there again, I do not think it was a lesson they did independently until form III.
Liz
Do you have any suggestions on the “tales” (the fables)? Any particular version you recommend?
Has this episode been archived? My computer has nothing to click on below “Listen Now:” 🙁
I’m sorry you’re having trouble Amy–It is not archived and is working perfectly on my computer. Have you tried listening through a podcast app?
How odd! I just realized they all do that. I don’t have a smartphone right now, but I guess I’ll have to wait on that one. Thank you for your help, though!
Hi Amy, if you see this, change the browser. Firefox does not show the link properly, but Chrome does.
Blessings!
Emily